1930s Videos of Hong Kong

Submitted by David on Wed, 10/06/2010 - 18:50

Andrew Tse writes:

I have posted some old HK short video clips from the 1930's on YouTube. Your readers may be interested. These are 16mm films taken by my grandfather Tse Ka-po.

Tse Ka-po was also known as Simon Tse Yan. He was the compradore of NYK Line. He was also son-in-law of Ho Kom-tong.

You can watch the videos by clicking the links below, or by visiting Andrew's channel on YouTube.

Many thanks to Andrew for posting these. Photographic skills must be a family trait, as Andrew's photos are also a valuable record of old Hong Kong.

Regards, David

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Submitted by
Andrew E Tse (not verified)
on
Wed, 10/06/2010 - 22:24

The films were taken by my grandfather Tse Ka-po. He used a Bell & Howell 16 mm cine camera ( I still have the camera with me). Apart from recording family functions, he has recorded many interesting scenes in the 1930's. For examples,  opera actor Mei Lan-fong; racing in Shanghai and Hong Kong; surgery; Sir Robert Ho Tung's golden wedding anniversary at the Peninsula Hotel, visits of Catholic bishops from China; political figures and prominent locals, etc.

When I first took possession of some 35 rotten tin cans with reels of broken 16mm films in 1981, I showed it to TVB but unfortunately they have no interests. It took me a couple of years time and money to restore the films in better condition. To clean up the films, put them together as they were all broken in strips and replacing the rusted reels and cans, etc. During the mid 80's when Jockey Club was working on a documentary video on its 100th anniversary, Eric Cumine, Steward of the Jockey Club  asked me to loan the films to the production house as the films contained scenes of Shanghai and Hong Kong races. In return the production house converted the film into VHS video tapes. Over the years, I made further conversions to DV and later to digital files. The original 16 mm were donated to the Hong Kong Film Archives several years ago. I also want to add that Eric Cumine was given a surprise when he discovered his father appeared in one of the scene at the race course in Shanghai. 

Some of the scenes were used for the production of the Jockey Club and the  Peninsula Hotel corporate videos.

I am uploading some of the interesting footages onto YouTube so everyone can share.

I am using the account name of "compradorehouse" for YouTube uploads. click on this account name and you will find 11 video clips as of today. i will add more over the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

Andrew E. Tse